Hello everyone, and welcome to the official blog of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. I thought I would start us off by introducing myself and BHHI, and telling you all a little bit about what to expect from future posts.
What is BHHI?
We are a research and education organization based at University of California, San Francisco and led by Margot Kushel, MD. Our main work involves producing research on how to prevent and end homelessness. We also try to get that research into the hands of policymakers, to make sure that legislators and government agencies know what they can do to get people housed and end the homelessness crisis. Lastly, we work to educate the public on homelessness and clear up common misconceptions.
Read more about Dr. Kushel here and check out some of our recent research. You can follow Dr. Kushel on Twitter here.
Who are you?
I’m Ned Resnikoff, policy manager for BHHI. It’s my job to help ensure the brilliant work of our researchers gets translated into real-world government action. I’m also a former journalist and a onetime fiscal and policy analyst for the California state legislature. I’ll be one of the more frequent contributors to this blog.
If you like, you can follow me on Twitter and take a look at two of our recent policy briefs:
- The first summarizes an interim evaluation of California’s Home Safe program, which aims to prevent homelessness among Adult Protective Services clients.
- The second provides recommendations on how the state and local governments can prevent an eviction wave following the expiration of California’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium.
What can I expect from this blog?
Our goal is to be a resource for evidence-based information on how to solve homelessness. So expect to see updates on our own research—but much more as well.
Future posts will include:
- Updates on our work, including interviews with BHHI researchers breaking down some of their findings.
- Round-ups of other important news and research from beyond BHHI.
- Posts from other BHHI staff and faculty on topics within their areas of expertise.
- Analysis, commentary, and explainers on the latest in housing and homelessness policy.
We have some exciting things brewing, so stay tuned. In the meantime, you can follow BHHI on Twitter to stay in touch. Until next time!